18-08-09 Dana Petroleum has announced that first oil production has successfully commenced from the Ettrick field, located in Blocks 20/2a & 20/3a of the UKCS.
The Ettrick field development was approved by the UK authorities in July 2006. Six wells were subsequently drilled between March 2007 and March 2009. The field is being produced via the leased "Aoka Mizu" FPSO (floating production, storage and offloading) vessel, which is designed to handle 30,000 boepd and 35 mm cf of gas per day. Over the next few months the field is expected to produce at rates of up to 20,000 boepd (2,400 boepd net to Dana) as the wells are tied into production.

Commenting on the news, Tom Cross, Dana's Chief Executive said: "Ettrick start-up adds to Dana's oil production in one of our core areas, and brings Dana's total number of producing fields to 35."
"The outlook for the upstream oil industry is now considerably better than at the point of the Bow Valley acquisition in April 2009, and development of Ettrick is in line with Dana's strategy of growing reserves and production through both exploration and acquisition."

The Ettrick field lies in the Moray Firth in the UK sector of the North Sea and was discovered in 1981 and had, prior to development, been appraised by seven wells drilled between 1982 and 1985. The reservoir lies within the Upper Jurassic Ettrick Sandstones with deeper Zechstein reservoirs in the Jarvis structure.
Since field development approval was obtained by the UK authorities in July 2006, six wells have been drilled between March 2007 and March 2009. In April 2006, the partnership awarded Bluewater Ettrick Production (UK) a contract for the production facilities and operations for the Ettrick field for an initial term of five years with extension options. The FPSO is designed to handle 30,000 boepd and 35 mm cfpd of gas.

Licensees in the Ettrick oil field are Bow Valley Petroleum (UK) (a wholly owned subsidiary of the Dana Petroleum) (12 %), Nexen Petroleum UK (operator) (17.87 %), Nexen Ettrick UK (61.86 %), and Atlantic Petroleum UK (8.27 %).
Dana gained its interest in this licence through its acquisition of Bow Valley Energy in April 2009.